Chingaza National Park is located 20 miles (50 km) east of Bogotá, Colombia, at between 9,000 and 13,000 feet (2,700m to 3,900 m) elevation. It serves as a refuge for the richly diverse páramo ecosystem, a high-elevation tropical grassland unique to the northern Andes. Chingaza is also the main source of drinking water for the eight million inhabitants of Bogotá.

At the highest elevations of the park, the formerly glaciated landscape is typically covered with relatively low, warm-colored grasses punctuated by silvery groups of espeletia, an unusual member of the aster family. Lower down, as the páramo grades into cloud forest it becomes more varied with dense patches of chusquea (a bamboo) and an array of shrubs and low trees that host a wide variety of aerophytes on their branches. The lowest slopes are cloaked by the resplendent Andean cloud forest. These richly diverse plant communities host numerous animal species including the Andean bear, white tail deer, tapir, puma, and over 200 bird species.

In 2014 and again in 2016 my wife Beth and I spent several days in the heart of Chingaza National Park, staying mainly at Monte Redondo station as well as a few days at La Paila station. With the help of the park staff and the expert ecological guidance of Cristián Samper, we explored a wide variety of the park’s environments from these locations. The resulting field paintings, photographs, and memories now serve as the basis for several larger canvases painted in my studio in Athens, Georgia. Together they offer a wide-ranging view of Chingaza’s gorgeous páramo and cloud forests.

To my knowledge, a comprehensive artistic representation of this Andean ecosystem has not been done before. I hope that exhibiting these paintings in celebration of Chingaza’s 40th anniversary will help raise awareness of the park and promote conservation for an environment that is considered an evolutionary hotspot as well as a critical natural resource for drinking water in the region. Last but not least, it will be a chance for me to share my impressions of a place I have fallen in love with.

I am grateful to the park staff who made much of this project possible and to Cristián Samper for introducing Beth and me to Chingaza - and indeed for inspiring this project.
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During the months of June, July, and August, National Natural Parks of Colombia will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Chingaza National Park with a series of free activities directed at the 11 municipalities that are part of the Chingaza National Park as well as in Bogota and Villavicencio, cities that benefit from environmental services provided by this important natural area.

In addition to the many events in and around the park, in Bogota on July 31, the central event of this commemoration will be held at the Virgilio Barco Library. The International Forum entitled "Benefit of National Natural Parks for Society: PNN Chingaza” will involve national environmental leaders including the director of the National Parks, Julia Miranda, the director of the Humboldt Institute, Brigitte Baptiste, the former environment minister and university professor, Doctor Manuel Rodríguez, and biologist Cristián Samper, one of the founders of the Humboldt Institute, deputy director of the Department of Tropical Research of the Smithsonian, former director of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, and current president and executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Finishing the forum will be the opening of the art exhibition of the American painter Philip Juras, recognized for reconstructing natural landscapes that have been degraded by man. The exhibition will be in the library Virgilio Barco for 1 month, with free admission.